Tap linking module, first and second taps, input/output linking circuitry

ABSTRACT

IEEE 1149.1 Test Access Ports (TAPs) may be utilized at both IC and intellectual property core design levels. TAPs serve as serial communication ports for accessing a variety of embedded circuitry within ICs and cores including; IEEE 1149.1 boundary scan circuitry, built in test circuitry, internal scan circuitry, IEEE 1149.4 mixed signal test circuitry, IEEE P5001 in-circuit emulation circuitry, and IEEE P1532 in-system programming circuitry. Selectable access to TAPs within ICs is desirable since in many instances being able to access only the desired TAP(s) leads to improvements in the way testing, emulation, and programming may be performed within an IC. A TAP linking module is described that allows TAPs embedded within an IC to be selectively accessed using 1149.1 instruction scan operations.

This application is a divisional of Application No. 15/134,877, filedApr. 21, 2016, now U. S. Pat. No. 9,817,070, isued Nov. 14, 2017;

Which is a divisional of prior application Ser. No. 14/728,580, filedJun. 2, 2015, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,347,992, granted May 24, 2016;

Which was a divisional of application Ser. No. 14/230,771, filed Mar.31, 2014, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,075,113, granted Jul. 7, 2015;

Which was a divisional of application Ser. No. 13/938,793, filed Jul.10, 2013, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,726,111, granted May 13, 2014;

Which was a divisional of application Ser. No. 13/670,078, filed Nov. 6,2012, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,516,320, granted Aug. 13, 2013;

Which is a divisional of application Ser. No. 13/330,178, filed Dec. 19,2011, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,332,700, granted Dec. 11, 2012;

Which is a divisional of application Ser. No. 13/101,730, filed May 5,2011, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,112,684, granted Feb. 7, 2012;

Which was a divisional of application Ser. No. 12/434,929, filed May 4,2009, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,962,813, granted Jun. 14, 2011;

Which was a divisional of application Ser. No. 12/117,207, filed May 8,2008, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,546,502, granted Jun. 9, 2009;

Which was a divisional of application Ser. No. 11/279,503, filed Apr.12, 2006, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,389,456, granted Jun. 17, 2008;

Which was a divisional of application Ser. No. 09/864,509, filed May 24,2001, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,058,862, granted Jun. 6, 2006;

which claims priority under 35 USC 119(e)(1) of Provisional ApplicationNo. 60/207,691, filed May 26, 2000.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is related to 1) application Ser. No. 08/918,872, filedAug. 26, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,073,254, “Selectively Accessing TestAccess Ports in a Multiple Test Access Port Environment”, which ishereby incorporated by reference, 2) application Ser. No. 09/458,313,filed Dec. 10, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,324,614, “Selectively AccessingTest Access Ports in a Multiple Test Access Port Environment”, which ishereby incorporated by reference, and 3) application Ser. No.09/277,504, filed Mar. 26, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,324,662, “A TAP andLinking Module for Scan Access of Multiple Cores with 1149.1 Test AccessPorts”, which is hereby incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure relates generally to integrated circuits and,more particularly, to test interfaces for integrated circuits and/orcores.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

FIG. 1A illustrates the test architecture of a conventional 1149.1 TAP2. The TAP 2 includes a TAP controller 4, instruction register 6, set ofdata register including; (1) an internal scan register 8, (2) anin-circuit emulation (ICE) register 10, (3) an in-system programming(ISP) register 12, (4) a boundary scan register 14, and (5) a bypassregister 16. Of the data registers, the boundary scan register 14 andbypass register 16 are defined by the IEEE 1149.1 standard. The othershown data registers are not defined by 1149.1, but can exist as dataregisters within the 1149.1 architecture. The TAP controller 4 respondsto the TCK and TMS inputs to coordinate serial communication througheither the instruction register 6 from TDI to TDO, or through a selectedone of the data registers from TDI to TDO. The TRST input is used toinitialize the TAP 2 to a known state. The operation of the TAP 2 iswell known.

FIG. 1B illustrates an IC or intellectual property core circuit 18incorporating the TAP 2 and its TDI, TDO, TMS, TCK, and TRST interface.A core circuit is a complete circuit function that is embedded within anIC, such as a DSP or CPU. FIGS. 1C-1F illustrate the association betweeneach of the data registers of FIG. 1A and the target circuit theyconnect to and access.

FIG. 2 illustrates the state diagram of the TAP controller 4 of FIG. 1A.The TAP controller is clocked by the TCK input and transitions throughthe states of FIG. 2 in response to the TMS input. As seen in FIG. 2,the TAP controller state diagram consists of four key state operations,(1) a Reset/Run Test Idle state operation where the TAP controller goesto either enter a reset state, a run test state, or an idle state, (2) aData or Instruction Scan Select state operation the TAP controller maytransition through to select a data register (DR) or instructionregister (IR) scan operation, or return to the reset state, (3) a DataRegister Scan Protocol state operation where the TAP controller goeswhen it communicates to a selected data register, and (4) an InstructionRegister Scan Protocol state operation where the TAP controller goeswhen it communicates to the instruction register. The operation of theTAP controller is well known.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example arrangement for connecting multiple TAPdomains within an IC 20. The FIG. 3 example and other TAP domain linkingarrangement examples are described in application Ser. No. 08/918,872,filed Aug. 26, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,073,254. Each TAP domain inFIG. 3 is a complete TAP architecture similar to that shown anddescribed in regard to FIG. 1A. While only one IC TAP domain 22 existsin an IC, any number of core TAP domains (1-N) may exist within an IC.As seen in FIG. 3, the IC TAP domain 22 and Core 1-N TAP domains 24 ₁-24_(n) are daisychained between the IC's TDI and TDO pins. All TAP domainsare connected to the IC's TMS, TCK, and TRST signals and operateaccording to the state diagram of FIG. 2. During instruction scanoperations, instructions are shifted into each TAP domain instructionregister. One drawback of the TAP domain arrangement of FIG. 3 is thatit does not comply with the IEEE 1149.1 standard, since, according tothe rules of that standard, only the ICs TAP domain should be presentbetween TDI and TDO when the IC is initially powered up. A seconddrawback of the TAP domain arrangement of FIG. 3 is that it may lead tounnecessarily complex access for testing, in-circuit emulation, and/orin-circuit programming functions associated with ones of the individualTAP domains.

For example, if scan testing is required on circuitry associated withthe Core 1 TAP domain, each of the scan frames of the test pattern setdeveloped for testing the Core 1 circuitry must be modified from theiroriginal form. The modification involves adding leading and trailing bitfields to each scan frame such that the instruction and data registersof the leading and trailing TAP domains become an integral part of thetest pattern set of Core 1. Serial patterns developed for in-circuitemulation and/or in-circuit programming of circuitry associated with theTAP domain of Core 1 must be similarly modified. To overcome these andother drawbacks of the TAP arrangement of FIG. 3, the disclosure asdescribed below is provided.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A illustrates the test architecture of a conventional 1149.1 TAP.

FIG. 1B illustrates an IC or intellectual property core circuitincorporating the TAP and its TDI, TDO, TMS, TCK, and TRST interface.

FIGS. 1C-1F illustrate the association between each of the dataregisters of FIG. 1A and the target circuit they connect to and access.

FIG. 2 illustrates the state diagram of the TAP controller of FIG. 1A.

FIG. 3 illustrates an arrangement for connecting multiple TAP domainswithin an IC.

FIG. 4 illustrates a structure for connecting multiple TAP domainswithin an IC according to the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 illustrates circuitry for providing the gated TMSICT, TMSCIT, andTMSCNT signals.

FIG. 6 illustrates circuitry for providing the TDI_(ICT), TDI_(CIT), andTDI_(CNT) input signals.

FIG. 7 illustrates circuitry for multiplexing of the TDO_(ICT),TDO_(CIT), and TDO_(CNT) signals to the TDO output.

FIG. 8A illustrates the structure of the TLM.

FIG. 8B illustrates the structure of the instruction register.

FIG. 9 illustrates various arrangements of TAP domain connections during1149.1 instruction scan operations using the present disclosure.

FIG. 10 illustrates that during 1149.1 data scan operations the TLM isconfigured, as described in regard to FIG. 8A, to simply form aconnection path between the output of the selected TAP domainarrangement and the IC's TDO pin.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DISCLOSURE

FIG. 4 illustrates the preferred structure for connecting multiple TAPdomains within an IC according to the present disclosure. The structureof the present disclosure includes input linking circuitry 26 and outputlinking circuitry 28 for connecting any one or more TAP domains to theICs TDI, TDO, TMS, TCK and TRST pins, and a TAP Linking Module (TLM) 30circuit for providing the control to operate the input and outputlinking circuitry. The concept of input and output linking circuitry anduse of a TLM circuit to control the input and output linking circuitryis disclosed in application Ser. No. 08/918,872, filed Aug. 26, 1999,now U.S. Pat. No. 6,073,254.

The input linking circuitry 26 receives as input; (1) the TDI, TMS, TCK,and TRST IC pins signals, (2) the TDO outputs from the IC TAP (ICT)domain 22 (TDO_(ICT)), the Core 1 TAP (CIT) domain 24 ₁ (TDO_(CIT)), andthe Core N TAP (CNT) domain 24 _(n) (TDO_(CNT)), and (3) TAP linkcontrol input from the TLM 30. The TCK and TRST inputs pass unopposedthrough the input linking circuitry 26 to be input to each TAP domain.The TMS input to the input linking circuitry 26 is gated within theinput linking circuitry such that each TAP domain receives a uniquelygated TMS output signal. As seen in FIG. 4, the IC TAP domain 22receives a gated TMS_(ICT) signal, the Core 1 TAP domain 24 ₁ receives agated TMS_(CIT) signal, and the Core N TAP domain 24 ₁ receives a gatedTMS_(CNT) signal. Example circuitry for providing the gated TMS_(ICT),TMS_(CIT), and TMS_(CNT) signals is shown in FIG. 5. In FIG. 5, theENA_(ICT), ENA_(CIT), and ENA_(CNT) signals used to gate the TMS_(ICT),TMS_(CIT), and TMS_(CNT) signals, respectively, come from the TLM 30 viathe TAP link control bus 32.

From FIG. 5 it is seen that TMS_(CNT) can be connected by way of ANDgate 34 to TMS to enable the Core N TAP domain or be gated low todisable the Core N TAP domain, TMS_(CIT) can be connected by way of ANDgate 36 to TMS to enable the Core 1 TAP domain or be gated low todisable the Core 1 TAP domain, and TMS_(ICT) can be connected by way ofAND gate 38 to TMS to enable the IC TAP domain or be gated low todisable the IC TAP domain. When a TAP domain TMS input (TMS_(CNT),TMS_(CIT), TMS_(ICT)) is gated low, the TAP domain is disabled byforcing it to enter the Run Test/Idle state of FIG. 2. A disabled TAPdomain will remain in the Run Test/Idle state until it is again enabledby coupling it to the IC's TMS pin input as mentioned above. Thesemethods of enabling TAP domains from the Run Test/Idle state anddisabling TAP domains to the Run Test/Idle state are disclosed inapplication Ser. No. 08/918,872, filed Aug. 26, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No.6,073,254.

The TDI, TDO_(CNT), TDO_(CIT), and TDO_(ICT) inputs to the input linkingcircuitry 26 are multiplexed by circuitry within the input linkingcircuitry such that each TAP domain receives a uniquely selected TDIinput signal. As seen in FIG. 4, the IC TAP domain 22 receives aTDI_(ICT) input signal, the Core 1 TAP domain 24 ₁ receives a TDI_(CIT)input signal, and the Core N TAP domain 24 _(n) receives a TDI_(CNT)input signal. Example circuitry for providing the TDI_(ICT), TDI_(CIT),and TDI_(CNT) input signals is shown in FIG. 6. In FIG. 6, theSELTDI_(ICT), SELTDI_(CIT), and SELTDI_(CNT) control signals used toselect the source of the TDI_(ICT,) TDI_(CIT), and TDI_(CNT) inputsignals, respectively, come from the TLM 30 via the TAP link control bus32. From FIG. 6 it is seen that TDI_(CNT) can be selectively connectedby way of multiplexer 40 to TDI, TDO_(CIT), or TDO_(ICT), TDI_(CIT) canbe selectively connected by way of multiplexer 42 to TDI, TDO_(CNT), orTDO_(ICT), and TDI_(ICT) can be selectively connected by way ofmultiplexer 44 to TDI, TDO_(CNT), or TDO_(CIT).

The output linking circuitry 28 receives as input; (1) the TDOCNT outputfrom the Core N Tap domain 24 _(n), the TDO_(CIT) output from the Core 1TAP domain 24 ₁, the TDO_(ICT) output from the IC TAP domain 22, and TAPlink control input from the TLM 30. As seen in FIG. 4, the outputlinking circuitry 28 outputs a selected one of the TDO_(CNT), TDO_(CIT),and TDO_(ICT) input signals to the TLM 30 via the output linkingcircuitry TDO output. Example circuitry for providing the multiplexingof the TDO_(ICT), TDO_(CIT), and TDO_(CNT) signals to the TDO output isshown in FIG. 7. In FIG. 7, the SELTDO control input used to switch theTDO_(ICT), TDO_(CIT), or TDO_(CNT) signals to TDO come from the TLM 30via the TAP link control bus 32. From FIG. 7 it is seen that any one ofthe TDO_(CNT), TDO_(CIT), and TDO_(ICT) signals can be selected as theinput source to the TLM 30 by way of multiplexer 46.

The TLM circuit 30 receives as input the TDO output from the outputlinking circuitry 28 and the TMS, TCK, and TRST IC input pin signals.The TLM circuit 30 outputs to the IC's TDO output pin. From inspection,it is seen that the TLM 30 lies in series with the one or more TAPdomains selected by the input and output linking circuitry 26, 28.

As described above, the TLM's TAP link control bus 32 is used to controlthe input and output connection circuitry to form desired connections toone or more TAP domains so that the one of more TAP domains may beaccessed via the IC's TDI, TDO, TMS, TCK and TRST pins. According to thepresent disclosure and as will be described in detail below, the TAPlink control bus signals are output from the TLM 30 during the Update-IRstate of the IEEE TAP controller state diagram of FIG. 2.

FIG. 8A illustrates in detail the structure of the TLM 30. The TLM 30consists of a TAP controller 48, instruction register 50, multiplexer52, and 3-state TDO output buffer 54. The TAP controller 48 is connectedto the TMS, TCK and TRST signals. The TDI input is connected to theserial input (I) of the instruction register 50 and to a first input ofthe multiplexer 52. The serial output (O) of the instruction register 50is connected to the second input of the multiplexer 52. The paralleloutput of the instruction register 50 is connected to the TAP linkcontrol bus 32 of FIG. 4. The output of the multiplexer 52 is connectedto the input of the 3-state buffer 54. The output of the 3-state buffer54 is connected to the IC TDO output pin. The TAP controller 48 outputscontrol (C) to the instruction register 50, multiplexer 52, and 3-stateTDO output buffer 54. The TAP controller 48 responds to TMS and TCKinput as previously described in regard to FIGS. 1A and 2. Duringinstruction scan operations, the TAP controller 48 enables the 3-stateTDO buffer 54 and shifts data through the instruction register 50 fromTDI to TDO. During data scan operations, the TAP controller 48 enablesthe 3-state TDO buffer 54 and forms a connection, via the multiplexer52, between TDI and TDO.

FIG. 8B illustrates the instruction register 50 in more detail. Theinstruction register 50 consists of a shift register 56, TAP link decodelogic 58, and update register 60. The shift register 56 has a serialinput (I), a serial output (O), a control (C) inputs, a parallel output,and a parallel input. The parallel input is provided for capturing fixedlogic 0 and 1 data bits into the first two bit positions shifted out onTDO during instruction scan operations, which is a requirement of theIEEE 1149.1 standard. The parallel output from the instruction registeris input to TAP link decode logic 58. The parallel output from the TAPlink decode logic 58 is input to the update register 60. The paralleloutput of the update register 60 is the TAP link control bus input tothe input and output linking circuitry. During the Capture-IR state ofFIG. 2, the shift register 56 captures data (0 & 1) on the parallelinput, During the Shift-IR state of FIG. 2, the shift register 56 shiftsdata from TDI (I) to TDO (O). During the Update-IR state of FIG. 2, theupdate register 60 loads the parallel input from the TAP link decodelogic 58 and outputs the loaded data onto the TAP link control bus 32.

FIG. 9 illustrates various possible arrangements 901-907 of TAP domainconnections during 1149.1 instruction scan operations using the presentdisclosure. Since during instruction scan operations, the TLM'sinstruction register is physically present and in series with theconnected TAP domain(s) instruction register(s), the instruction scanframe for each arrangement will be augmented to include the TLM'sinstruction register bits. The concept of augmenting the length of TAPdomain instruction registers with a TLM's instruction register isdisclosed in pending patent application Ser. No. 09/277,504, filed Mar.26, 1999. It is assumed at this point that the TLM's instruction shiftregister 56 of FIG. 8B is 3 bits long and that the 3 bit instructionshave been decoded by the TAP link decode logic 58 of FIG. 8B to uniquelyselect a different TAP domain connection arrangement between the ICs TDIand TDO pins. For example and as indicated in FIG. 9, shifting in thefollowing 3 bit TLM instructions and updating them from the TLM to beinput to the input and output linking circuitry will cause the followingTAP domain connections to be formed.

As seen in arrangement 901, a “000” instruction shifted into and updatedfrom the TLM instruction register 50 will cause the IC TAP domain 22 tobe enabled and connected in series with the TLM 30 between the TDI andTDO IC pins.

As seen in arrangement 902, a “001” instruction shifted into and updatedfrom the TLM instruction register 50 will cause the IC TAP domain 22 andthe Core 1 TAP Domain 24 ₁ to be enabled and connected in series withthe TLM 30 between the TDI and TDO IC pins.

As seen in arrangement 903, a “010” instruction shifted into and updatedfrom the TLM instruction register 50 will cause the IC TAP domain 22 andthe Core N TAP domain 24 _(n) to be enabled and connected in series withthe TLM 30 between the TDI and TDO IC pins.

As seen in arrangement 904, a “011” instruction shifted into and updatedfrom the TLM instruction register 50 will cause the IC TAP domain 22,the Core 1 TAP Domain 24 ₁, and the Core N Tap domain 24 _(n) to beenabled and connected in series with the TLM 30 between the TDI and TDOIC pins.

As seen in arrangement 905, a “100” instruction shifted into and updatedfrom the TLM instruction register 50 will cause the Core 1 TAP Domain 24₁ to be enabled and connected in series with the TLM 30 between the TDIand TDO IC pins.

As seen in arrangement 906, a “101” instruction shifted into and updatedfrom the TLM instruction register 50 will cause the Core 1 TAP Domain 24₁ and Core N TAP domain 24 _(n) to be enabled and connected in serieswith the TLM 30 between the TDI and TDO IC pins.

As seen in arrangement 907, a “110” instruction shifted into and updatedfrom the TLM instruction register 50 will cause the Core N TAP Domain 24_(n) to be enabled and connected in series with the TLM 30 between theTDI and TDO IC pins.

At power up of the IC, the TLM 3-bit instruction shall be initialized to“000” to allow the IC TAP domain arrangement 901 to be enabled andcoupled between TDI and TDO. This complies with the IC power uprequirement established in the IEEE 1149.1 standard. The process ofpowering up a multiple TAP domain IC to where only the IC TAP domain isenabled and selected between the IC's TDI and TDO pins is disclosed inapplication Ser. No. 08/918,872, filed Aug. 26, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No.6,073,254. Following power up, an instruction scan operation can beperformed to shift instruction data through the IC TAP domain and theserially connected TLM to load a new IC TAP domain instruction and toload a new 3 bit instruction into the TLM. If the power up IC TAP domainarrangement 901 is to remain in effect between TDI and TDO, the 3 bit“000” TLM instruction of FIG. 9 will be re-loaded into the TLMinstruction register during the above mentioned instruction scanoperation. However, if a new TAP domain arrangement is to desiredbetween TDI and TDO, a different 3 bit TLM instruction will be loadedinto the TLM instruction register during the above mentioned instructionregister scan operation.

From the description given above, it is clear that a different TAPdomain arrangement may be selected by the TLM's instruction registerfollowing each 1149.1 instruction scan operation, more specificallyduring the Update-IR state (FIG. 2) of each instruction scan operation.The TAP domain selection process of the present disclosure differs fromthe previous TAP domain selection process described in referencedpending patent application Ser. No. 09/277,504, filed Mar. 26, 1999, inthe following way. The TAP domain selection process disclosed inapplication Ser. No. 09/277,504, filed Mar. 26, 1999, comprised thesteps of: (1) performing an instruction scan to load a instruction(referred to as a code in application Ser. No. 09/277,504, filed Mar.26, 1999) into a TLM resident instruction register (referred to asinstruction augmentation bits in application Ser. No. 09/277,504, filedMar. 26, 1999), then (2) performing a data scan operation to a TLMresident data register (referred to as a link update register inapplication Ser. No. 091277,504, filed Mar. 26, 1999), selected by theinstruction, to input a new TAP domain arrangement. The TAP domainselection process disclosed in the present disclosure comprises only thesingle step of: (1) performing an instruction scan to load a new TAPdomain arrangement instruction into the instruction register of the FIG.8A TLM. Thus the improvement of the present disclosure is seen to be thereduction of the two step TAP domain selection process described inapplication Ser. No. 091277,504, filed Mar. 26, 1999, to the single TAPdomain selection process described herein.

The following briefly re-visits and summarizes the operation of the TLMand input and output linking circuitry to clarify the TAP domainarrangement switching illustrated in FIG. 9. As previously described inregard to FIG. 4, the TMS inputs of enabled TAP domains are coupled tothe IC's TMS input pin (via the gating circuitry of FIG. 5), while theTMS inputs of disabled TAP domains are gated to a logic low (via thegating circuitry of FIG. 5). Also, enabled TAP domains are seriallyconnected (via the multiplexers of FIGS. 6 and 7) to form the desiredserial TAP domain connection between the IC's TDI and TDO pins, theconnection including the TLM. All the control for enabling or disablingthe TAP domain TMS inputs and for forming serial TAP domain connectionsbetween the IC's TDI and TDO pins comes from the TLM's TAP link controlbus. The control output from the TAP link control bus changes stateduring the Update-IR state of the TAP state diagram of FIG. 2. So, allTAP domain connection arrangement changes take place during theUpdate-IR state. In referenced patent applications Ser. No. 08/918,872,filed Aug. 26, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,073,254 and application Ser.No. 091277,504, filed Mar. 26, 1999, all TAP domain connectionarrangement changes take place during the Update-DR state, since datascan operations are used to load a new TAP domain connection in the linkupdate registers.

FIG. 10 is provided to illustrate that during 1149.1 data scanoperations the TLM is configured, as described in regard to FIG. 8A, tosimply form a connection path between the output of the selected TAPdomain arrangement 901-907 and the IC's TDO pin. Thus the TLM does notadd bits to 1149.1 data scan operations as it does for 1149.1instruction scan operations. The forming of a connection path throughthe TLM during data scan operations is disclosed in the referencedpending patent application Ser. No. 091277,504, filed Mar. 26, 1999.

It should be understood that while FIGS. 4-10 and accompanyingdescriptions have depicted the present disclosure as it would be appliedand used to select TAP domains within an IC, the present disclosure canalso be similarly applied and used to select TAP domains withinindividual IP core sub-circuits embedded within ICs as well. If appliedand used within an IP core, the structure of the present disclosureremains the same. The only difference when using the FIG. 4 structure ofthe present disclosure in IP cores is that the TDI, TMS, TCK, and TRSTinput signals to the structure and the TDO output signal from thestructure would be coupled to core terminals instead of IC pins.

What is claimed is:
 1. An integrated circuit comprising: (a) first corecircuitry including first logic circuitry and first I/O circuitry; (b)first TAP circuitry having a test data input, a test data output, a testclock input, a test mode select input, a first internal scan registercoupled to the test data input, test data output, and the first logiccircuitry, and a first boundary scan register coupled with to the testdata input, test data output, and the first I/O circuitry; (c) secondcore circuitry including second logic circuitry and second I/Ocircuitry; (d) second TAP circuitry having a test data input, a testdata output, a test clock input, a test mode select input, a secondinternal scan register coupled to the test data input, test data output,and the second logic circuitry, and a second boundary scan registercoupled with to the test data input, test data output, and the secondI/O circuitry; (e) input linking circuitry selectively coupling a testdata input signal and a test mode select signal to the test data inputsand test mode select inputs of the first and second TAP circuitry inresponse to linking control signal inputs; (f) output linking circuitryselectively coupling the test data outputs from the first and second TAPcircuitry to a test data output signal in response to linking controlsignal inputs; and (g) TAP linking module circuitry coupled in serieswith the test data inputs and test data outputs of the first and secondTAP circuitry and having linking control signal outputs connected to thelinking control signal inputs of the input linking circuitry and theoutput linking circuitry.
 2. The integrated circuit of claim 1 in whichthe TAP linking module circuitry is free of any connection of controlsignals from the first and second TAP circuitry.
 3. The integratedcircuit of claim 1 in which the first and second TAP circuitry eachinclude: i. a TAP controller connected to the test clock input and thetest mode select input and having control outputs; ii. an instructionregister coupled to the test data input, the test data output, and thecontrol outputs, and having instruction outputs; iii. a data registercoupled to the test data input, the test data output, and theinstruction outputs; and iv. multiplexer circuitry coupling the testdata output to the instruction register and to the data register.
 4. Theintegrated circuit of claim 1 in which the input linking circuitryincludes gating circuitry selectively coupling the test mode selectsignals to the first and second TAP circuitry in response to the linkingcontrol signal inputs.
 5. The integrated circuit of claim 1 in which theinput linking circuitry includes multiplexing circuitry selectivelycoupling the test data input signals to the first and second TAPcircuitry and selectively coupling the test data output signal from thesecond TAP circuitry to the first TAP circuitry in response to thelinking control signal inputs.
 6. The integrated circuit of claim 1 inwhich the output linking circuitry includes multiplexing circuitryselectively coupling the test data outputs of the first and second TAPcircuitry to the TAP linking module circuitry in response to linkingcontrol signal inputs.